For a patriotic hymn, I would choose "My country, 'tis of thee" before
either the Irving Berlin or "America".
But I wouldn't necessarily go with something overtly patriotic. Instead,
I would consider something more along the lines of the spiritual "Free at
last", or if that isn't your style, perhaps "Country Celestial" by Charles
Ives. Other possibilities include one or the other of two Bach arias
(originally for tenor, but could be sung an octave higher, and in English)
- the first is "I know that my Redeemer liveth" from BWV 160 - this is not
the same text as the aria from Handel's MESSIAH, but is, frankly, much
more appropriate to the moment; the other is "Jesus Christ, Son of God"
from BWV 4. Or you could do one of the many settings of Psalm 23 (e.g.
Vaughan Williams, Creston, Malotte, Dvorak, etc.).
Karen Mercedes
===
On Neil Shicoff - http://www.radix.net/~dalila/shicoff/shicoff.html
On yours truly - http://www.radix.net/~dalila/index.html
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| For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that |
| appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. |
| - James 4:14 |
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|
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